By Anupreeta Das

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA, BRKB) bought 11 million shares of Verizon Communications (VZ) and reduced its stake in General Motors Co. (GM) and DirecTV (DTV) during the first quarter, according to a regulatory filing.

The Verizon stake was valued at about $524 million as of the end of March. Given the size of the stake, it's likely to be a purchase made by one of Mr. Buffett's two investment managers.

The Omaha, Neb.-based investor has previously said he typically picks the big, multibillion-dollar positions for Berkshire while his managers, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs, buy smaller stakes.

Each of the two managers has over $7 billion to manage in a U.S. portfolio of 45 stocks valued at roughly $106 billion. During the quarter, Berkshire reduced its stake in satellite television company DirecTV, another investment of the duo, by 2 million shares. Berkshire still owns 34.5 million shares of DirecTV, which were valued at $2.6 billion at the end of the first quarter.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that AT&T Inc. (T) is in talks to buy DirecTV for about $50 billion. At that price, Berkshire stands to make a profit on its holding of the stock.

Berkshire also cut its position in General Motors by 10 million shares, and now owns 30 million shares valued at about $1 billion.

The company increased its stake in International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) slightly. IBM, along with Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), Coca-Cola Co. (KO) and American Express (AXP), are Mr. Buffett's "Big Four" stocks, collectively worth more than $60 billion.

Write to Anupreeta Das at Anupreeta.Das@wsj.com

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